The oxidation and erosion of atomic oxygen are considered to be the most dangerous environmental factors for materials exposed to the aerospace environment. In order to investigate the effect of atomic oxygen on the lubricating film and improve the tribological properties, MoS2-WS2 composite film was prepared by the sputtering technique. The film structure and mechanical behavior were characterized and their vacuum tribological properties were evaluated by a friction tester. The composite film possessed better atomic oxygen (AO) resistance than pure film because of the dense structure. The tribological performance of composite film was different under the conditions after AO-irradiation and sliding and during AO-irradiation. After AO-irradiation, the tribological properties of composite film were similar to those before AO-irradiation. However, high friction noise, wear rate, and reduced wear duration were observed for the composite film under the AO-irradiation/friction process because of the continuous damage of the lubricating film due to the AO-irradiation. The addition of 16 at.% WS2 to the MoS2-based film changed the composite film structure and improved the oxidation resistance of the film, making the composite film exhibit better tribological performance than pure MoS2.Organic materials have been found to be promising candidates for low-temperature thermoelectric applications. In particular, poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) has been attracting great interest due to its desirable intrinsic properties, such as excellent solution processability, chemical and thermal stability, and high field-effect mobility. However, its poor electrical conductivity has limited its application as a thermoelectric material. It is therefore important to improve the electrical conductivity of P3HT layers. In this work, we studied how molecular weight (MW) influences the thermoelectric properties of P3HT films. The films were doped with lithium bis(trifluoromethane sulfonyl) imide salt (LiTFSI) and 4-tert butylpyridine (TBP). Various P3HT layers with different MWs ranging from 21 to 94 kDa were investigated. UV-Vis spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis were performed to investigate the morphology and structure features of thin films with different MWs. The electrical conductivity initially increased when the MW increased and then decreased at the highest MW, whereas the Seebeck coefficient had a trend of reducing as the MW grew. The maximum thermoelectric power factor (1.87 μW/mK2) was obtained for MW of 77 kDa at 333 K. At this temperature, the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of this MW were 65.5 S/m and 169 μV/K, respectively.Heavy metals are rapidly polluting the environment as a result of growing industrialization and urbanization. The presence of high concentrations of chromium (Cr), along with other pollutants, is widespread in tannery wastewater.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/h-cys-trt-oh.html  In Pakistan, as a result of a severe shortage of irrigation water, farmers use tannery wastewater to grow various crops with a consequent decline in plants' yield. This experiment was performed to assess growth revival in sunflower plants irrigated with 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% tannery wastewater, by foliar application of 0, 2.5, and 5.0 mM citric acid (CA). The wastewater treatment curtailed biomass accumulation, the growth rate, and chlorophyll contents by exacerbating the oxidative stress in sunflowers. Foliar application of CA considerably alleviated the outcomes of Cr toxicity by curbing the Cr absorption and oxidative damage, leading to improvements in plant growth, biological yield, and chlorophyll contents. It is concluded that foliar application of CA can successfully mitigate the Cr toxicity in sunflower plants irrigated with tannery wastewater.Bee venom is a natural toxin produced by honeybees and plays an important role in defending bee colonies. Bee venom has several kinds of peptides, including melittin, apamin, adolapamine, and mast cell degranulation peptides. Apamin accounts for about 2%-3% dry weight of bee venom and is a peptide neurotoxin that contains 18 amino acid residues that are tightly crosslinked by two disulfide bonds. It is well known for its pharmacological functions, which irreversibly block Ca2+-activated K+ (SK) channels. Apamin regulates gene expression in various signal transduction pathways involved in cell development. The aim of this study was to review the current understanding of apamin in the treatment of apoptosis, fibrosis, and central nervous system diseases, which are the pathological processes of various diseases. Apamin's potential therapeutic and pharmacological applications are also discussed.In this paper, a novel hybrid damage detection system is proposed, which utilizes piezoelectric actuators for guided wave excitation and a new fibre optic (FO) sensor based on Fabry-Perot (FP) and Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG). By replacing the FBG sensors with FBG-based FP sensors in the hybrid damage detection system, a higher strain resolution is achieved, which results in higher damage sensitivity and higher reliability in diagnosis. To develop the novel sensor, optimum parameters such as reflectivity, a wavelength spectrum, and a sensor length were chosen carefully through an analytical model of the sensor, which has been validated with experiments. The sensitivity of the new FBG-based FP sensors was compared to FBG sensors to emphasize the superiority of the new sensors in measuring micro-strains. Lastly, the new FBG-based FP sensor was utilized for recording guided waves in a hybrid setup and compared to the conventional FBG hybrid sensor network to demonstrate their improved performance for a structural health monitoring (SHM) application.Background and objectives Bisphosphonates represent selective inhibitors of excess osteoblastic bone resorption that characterizes all osteopathies, targeting osteoclasts and their precursors. Their long-term administration in postmenopausal women suffering from osteoporosis has resulted in neural adverse effects. The current study focuses on the research of possible alterations in the femoral nerve, caused by bisphosphonates. We hypothesized that bisphosphonates, taken orally (per os), may produce degenerative changes to the femoral nerve, affecting lower-limb posture and walking neuronal commands. Materials and Methods In order to support our hypothesis, femoral nerve specimens were extracted from ten female 12-month-old Wistar rats given 0.05 milligrams (mg) per kilogram (kg) of body weight (b.w.) per week alendronate per os for 13 weeks and from ten female 12-month-old Wistar rats given normal saline that were used as a control group. Specimens were studied using immunohistochemistry for selected antibodies NeuN (Neuronal Nuclear Protein), a protein located within mature, postmitotic neural nucleus, and cytosol and Sox10 (Sex-determining Region Y (SRY) - High-Motility Group (HMG) - box 10).